In GIJN’s weekly Top 10 in Data Journalism, we look at Russia’s overconfident war plans, the Ukrainian refugee crisis, the potential for a new malaria vaccine, and the ongoing COVID-19 catastrophe in Hong Kong.
In a scandal known as ‘Vacunagate,’ 487 influential people in Peru, including its president, were secretly inoculated against COVID-19 months before vaccines were approved for the public. Two investigative newsrooms in Peru found that Chinese drug makers had secretly sent thousands of ‘courtesy’ vaccine doses to several countries in South America in addition to the doses needed for clinical trials there. Editors from both told GIJN how reporters can tackle this new form of corruption.
Around the world, people are toning down their celebrations in a bid to mitigate spread of the coronavirus. The latest casualty: Thanksgiving. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from November 16 to 22 found FiveThirtyEight’s timely piece explaining the risk of COVID-19 transmission from even small Thanksgiving dinner gatherings. Also popular: The New York Times tracking the status of all vaccine trials in progress, and The Pudding analysis of race and gender in crossword puzzles from five major US news publications.
GIJN’s webinar “Behind the COVID-19 Vaccine Race” is the second event to mark the publication of our new guide, “Investigating Health and Medicine.” In this webinar, we are pleased to present a noted physician specializing in vaccine development and an award-winning health journalist. Together, they will cut through the fog to show what red flags to look for both before and after a vaccine is approved.
